Advice for org-set-tags to disable helm completion

org-no-helm.el

(defun kk/run-with-no-helm (orig-func &rest args)
  "Run a function without helm completion."
  (if (boundp 'helm-mode)
      (let ((orig-helm-mode helm-mode))
	(unwind-protect
	    (progn
	      (helm-mode 0)
	      (apply orig-func args)
	      )
	  (helm-mode (if orig-helm-mode 1 0))))
    (apply orig-func args)
    ))

(advice-add 'org-icompleting-read :around 'kk/run-with-no-helm)
(advice-add 'org-completing-read :around 'kk/run-with-no-helm)
(advice-add 'org-completing-read-no-i :around 'kk/run-with-no-helm)

org-set-tags.el

(defun kk/org-set-tags-no-helm (orig-func &rest args)
  "Run org-set-tags without helm."
  (if (boundp 'helm-mode)
      (let ((orig-helm-mode helm-mode))
	(unwind-protect
	    (progn
	      (helm-mode 0)
	      (apply orig-func args)
	      )
	  (helm-mode (if orig-helm-mode 1 0))))
    (apply orig-func args)
    ))


(advice-add 'org-set-tags :around 'kk/org-set-tags-no-helm)

After spending more time on this, the advise option provided doesn't allow for normal completion when tab is pressed in the quick tag selection menu. I found the solution by here to to preferred.

Your comments prompted me to revisit this, as I haven't been using tags too frequently lately, but wanted to start again. Looks like this isn't working correctly anymore with either #' (function-symbol) or with ' (regular symbol). The quoted approach does work except it should be org-set-tags-command. However, at least in my case, I don't get a regular completing-read (i.e. no completions) after excluding it that way.

On the other hand, helm does appear helpful at this time as it allows frictionless addition of a new tag. The only issue is that when skipping the menu with C-u C-u, it adds a comma after the first tag. Replacing the comma with a colon allows one to complete multiple tags, which otherwise get blocked by the comma. A small modification to org.el fixes this for me:

modified   lisp/org.el
@@ -11691,7 +11691,7 @@ in Lisp code use `org-set-tags' instead."
 		      table
 		      (and org-fast-tag-selection-include-todo org-todo-key-alist))
 		   (let ((org-add-colon-after-tag-completion (< 1 (length table)))
-                         (crm-separator "[ \t]*:[ \t]*"))
+                         (crm-separator ":"))
 		     (mapconcat #'identity
                                 (completing-read-multiple
 			         "Tags: "

Thank you so much! This is exactly what I need! I am irritated by the Helm for many times as it pops up when I don't need it in org mode.